Objective: We investigated the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with chronic diseases in community pharmacies in Japan and examined its relationship to patient attributes, an area that has not been previously studied.Method: We surveyed 1,500 participants with chronic diseases and 1,500 from the general population without chronic diseases (Free-GP) using the EuroQol (5-dimension, 5-level) questionnaire. Patient attributes included the number of drugs used, duration of medication, number of chronic conditions, perceived disease severity, and perceived treatment importance. Logistic regression analyses assessed how these attributes influenced the likelihood of reporting “full health” (no problems on all HRQoL questions) among patients with chronic disease. An exploratory decision tree analysis was performed to identify patient attributes that might decrease HRQoL.Result: The HRQoL score of patients (0.856) was lower than that of Free-GP (0.942). The HRQoL of patients tended to increase with aging. Among patients, the mean HRQoL score was 0.781 for polypharmacy, which decreased with the addition of disease severity perception (even lower for those in their 20s-40). Even in the absence of polypharmacy, the average HRQoL score decreased when patients were in their 20s with multimorbidity. The HRQoL scores of non-polypharmacy patients in their 30s or older were higher than the mean scores of patients with chronic disease.Conclusion: To provide extensive care for patients with reduced HRQoL in community pharmacies, it is necessary to focus on polypharmacy. Reduced HRQoL should be considered in younger patients with multimorbidity, even in the absence of polypharmacy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially transformed the healthcare sector. While telemedicine has rapidly advanced, the essential roles of medical professionals, such as doctors and nurses, have been reaffirmed. Even prior to the pandemic, we had been evaluating pharmacists’ interpersonal roles from both patient and pharmacist perspectives using role theory. Accordingly, we investigated whether perceptions of pharmacists’ roles changed among patients and pharmacists through comparable surveys conducted before and during the pandemic. A nationwide online survey was conducted twice (April 30-May 7, 2021, and April 22-25, 2022), targeting 1,000 patients who used community pharmacies and 600-800 pharmacists employed at those pharmacies across Japan. The questionnaire comprised 12 items： 11 concerning pharmacists’ interpersonal roles, including communication, comprehending medication effects, and serving as a family pharmacist or drug expert, and one additional item addressing expectations during the pandemic. A five-point Likert scale was used. Compared with pre-pandemic results, patient evaluations revealed no statistically significant changes in either 2021 or 2022. However, pharmacists’ self-evaluations declined in response to the question, “Are pharmacists more expert in medicine than doctors?” The newly introduced question regarding pharmacists’ contributions to the community received higher ratings from patients than from pharmacists, indicating considerable patient expectations. Overall, only pharmacists’ perceptions changed, demonstrating decreased confidence and self-evaluation. Conversely, patient perceptions remained stable, suggesting that pharmacists are more sensitive to social changes than patients themselves.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the injurious influence of aerobic dancing on the lower limbs injuries. Subjects were personally interviewed about exercise hours and the intensity of their classes, together with experience of injury, and their body configurations, alignments, ranges of motion, and muscular strengths were measured. EMG during aerobic dance exercise was measured in subjects with knee Q angles over and under 20 degrees.
The incidence of lower limb injury was 64.3%, and the most frequent injury was shin splint. The injured individuals had significantly more high-intensity classes than normal. As to body configuration, the width in patella per femur was significantly lower and the value of patellar ligament per height was significantly higher in the injured than in the normal subjects. The range of motion of hip external rotation in the injured was significantly smaller than that in the normal subjects. EMG discharge of the vastus medialis in the injured with a knee Q angle of over 20 degrees was markedly greater than that in normal subjects with an angle of less than 20 degrees.

A study was done to examine the effects of wearing splints, for treatment of temporomandibular joint dysfunctions, on muscle strength and equilibrium in athletes.
Forty collegiate athletes participated. All the subjects were interviewed and examined by dental investigators. Splints were constructed on the basis of vertical dimensions deemed appropriate by the subjects' dentists. Three areas were then studied : First, isometric muscle strength of grip, arm flexion, back extension, leg extension, and plantar flexion were measured with and without splints. Second, isokinetic muscle strength of knee extension and flexion were measured at angular velocities of 60 deg/s, 120 deg/s, and 240 deg/s, with and without splints. Third, a stepping test with closed eyes was used to determine equilibrium by measuring transfer distance, transfer angle and rotation angle with and without splints.
The results are summarized as follows :
1) Isometric muscle strength of back extension, leg extension, and plantar flexion were significantly increased when wearing splints (p<0.05) . Arm flexion strength and grip strength showed no significant alteration.
2) Isokinetic muscle strength showed no significant difference at any angular velocity.
3) In the stepping test with closed eyes, transfer distance showed a significant decrease when splints were worn (p<0.01) . Transfer angle and rotation angle showed no significant alteration.
From the present results, it is suggested that wearing of splints is an effective aid for improving the muscle strength and equilibrium of athletes.

With disuse, e. g. that resulting from tail-suspension, skeletal muscle shows a decrease in both mass and strength, with concomitant atrophy. Type IIc fibers are observed during muscle fiber generation, regeneration and fiber type transformation. Thus, the recovery process of atrophied muscle fibers can be investigated by observing changes in type IIc fiber distribution. In this study, the behavior of type IIc fibers was examined in rats during recovery following 5 weeks of tail-suspension. Male rats were assigned to three groups : control (C), tailsuspension (S), and pair-weight (P), in which body weight was adjusted to that of the S group by controlled food consumption.
The results were as follows : 1) After 5 weeks of tail-suspension, the weight of the m. soleus in the S group was less than 40% of that in the C group. 2) Weights of all muscles removed in the S group increased rapidly until 2 weeks into the recovery period, and returned to the level in the P group by 5 weeks. 3) Type IIc fiber distribution in the m, soleus in the S group was increased by about 35% after 5 weeks of tail-suspension, and had not returned to the level in the C group by 5 weeks of recovery. 4) Phanocytosis and central nuclei were observed in the atrophic muscle fibers of the S group.

It was known that physical training caused temporary changes in property of erythrocytes in a trainee.
The purpose of this study is to determine how physical training bring about changes in blood corpuscle on long-distance runners under training for a month. In addition, a comparative study of distribution curves of red blood cell and changes of blood corpuscle was investigated.
The number of long-distance runner was twelve, throughout a regularly training program for a month.
Blood corpuscle (RBC, WBC, Ht, MCV) were count by Coulter Counter, and the hemoglobin content was measured by the Hemoglobinometer. The red cell distribution curves were analyzed, using Coulter Channelyzer.
The results obtained are as follow:
1) After the physical training, the macrocytes were decreased and microcytes were increased. Therefore red cell distribution curves shift to the left.
2) Red blood cell count was not influenced by regular training over a month.
3) MCV became markdly smaller between before and after the training, indicating a significance of p<0.01.
4) The hemoglobin content increased between before and after the training, indicating a significance of p<0.05.
5) It has been confirmed that hemoglobin content and density of a red blood cell was increased by the effect of physical training.